What would you recommend someone who's looking to dive deep into the experimental side of literature? I'm talking about stuff like Flann O'Brien and Italo Calvino.
i don't think any of these are considered 'experimental' literature per se, but try these guys if you haven't already
borges
barth
auster
gass
nabokov
in case you haven't already read it, the unconsoled by ishiguro
Letters to Wendy's.
Post-war authors:
Gass
Gaddis
Barth
Hawkes
McElroy
Coover
Orlovitz
Vollmann
Bolano
Pynchon
Federman
Schmidt
Sorrentino
Rios
Nabokov
Eco
Barthelme
Pre-war authors:
Joyce
Bely
Stein
Beckett
Proust
Lowry
Woolf
James
Mann
Faulkner
>>7813970
B.S. Johnson you utter plebmongers
>>7815842
>fat depressive faggot who eliminated his map for keeps because of how unpopular he was
Yeah ok.
>>7813970
I liked, and liked probably isn't the right word, The Foundation Pit.
>>7814300
Let me break this list down in the order you should read it. If you dive right into Federman/Hawkes/McElroy you might be totally lost.
Before you start reading all the fun and weird literature that has come out in the last one hundred years, you need a good grounding in the literary tradition that is playing on.
traditional shit who will give you a good grounding in descriptive writing:
Mann: Read Magic Mountain, Buddenbrooks, maybe Joseph and His Brothers if you really like him
James: Golden Bowl, The Americans
Proust: ISOLT, the whole thing.
"Modernist" Writers. These are for when shit gets a little more experimental, but still are pretty tied in traditional narrative models (Fins Wake excepted). They experiment with the long-winded monologue that is SUPER common in experimental literature both through the 1960's and now.
Joyce: Dubliners, Portrait, Ulysses, in that order.
Faulkner: As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, Absalom Absalom, in that order.
Woolf: The Waves, To the Lighthouse.
Schmidt: Nobaddaddies Children
Bely: Petersburg
Postmodernist writers who follow the literary tradition set by the modernists (i.e. pomo writers who follow the same style that Woolf's generation used while implementing new structures)
Gass: Middle C, The Tunnel
McElroy: Women and Men, Cannonball
Vollmann: Seven Dreams Series, Poor People
Lowry: Under the Volcano
Postmodernist "humorists": This is just a category I use, not scholarly, but its pomo guys who toy more with surrealism and humor than guys like McElroy. People on here usually like them more because they are easier reads and genuinely funny sometimes.
Barth: Giles Goat Boy, LETTERS
Sorrentino: Pack of Lies
Coover: The Public Burning, Origin of the Brunists
Pynchon: V., Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon
Barthelme: Sixty Short Stories
"Exhaustive Monologue" pomo writers. These guys are heavily influenced by Faulkner and Woolf
Gaddis: The Recognitions, Agape Agape. Really all his stuff is worth reading.
Bolano: The Savage Detectives, 2666 if you liked SD
Marlon James: Brief History of Seven Killings
Ignore Stein. Read all of Beckett, get that sexy box set and devour it.
thats all that I'm really familiar with, haven't read Orlovitz yet. I don't think Eco or Nabokov is particularly noteworthy besides Pale Fire.
>>7816339
>the waves before to the lighthouse
>no dalloway
??
also
>no nabokov
>>7816339
sorry i missed
> I don't think Eco or Nabokov is particularly noteworthy besides Pale Fire.
pls elaborate
to deny their importance and merits is absurd. you dont have to personally like them but they are worthy of being included in your fairly extensive list.
>>7816346
>>7816351
fair enough about Nabokov, I just consider Lolita something people read in high school I guess. Pale Fire is definitely worth inclusion.
I messed up the order of the Woolf, To the Lighthouse should definitely be first. I think Dalloway is pretty easily skipped desu.
I can't think of anything about Eco worth putting on the list. I like his books but I don't think he is super experimental. Can you explain why he should be included?
>>7816339
A few mistakes here and there, but, overall, a good post.
>>7816377
what have you read by eco?
name of the rose is the meme book but i agree that it's not particularly experimental beyond some standard metatextual stuff. a good read in any case. foucault's pendulum was quite experimental however, and could easily be included in the "exhaustive monologue" section of your system. the way it's structured and the, ahem, "polyphonic" way he integrates conspiracy theories and different texts/histories, real and fictional, is certainly experimental.
also invitation to a beheading, the gift, and ada or ardor in particular by nabokov merit inclusion. don't care much about pale fire.
>>7816391
oh god i meant to say don't care much about lolita not pale fire.
>>7816380
would love to hear the mistakes, I know I made a few. Just typed it up off the top of my head.
>>7816391
I've read the Name of the Rose, Prague Cemetery, Numero Zero, The Island of the Day Before. I think Baudolino too but desu I don't remember it. I'll check out Foucault's Pendulum at the library, thanks for the rec.
Agree to disagree about Nabokov, I think. Clearly some people would defend his stuff but it's not me. Glad you like him though.
>>7816403
Couple things: for one, Lowry is very much a modernist writer, not a postmodernist writer (if such a thing exists); for two, Stein is very much worth reading, as she was both a great writer and highly influential on later figures like Gass; for three, because of my previous points, I'm getting the feeling you haven't read some of the novels and authors you mentioned (Lowry), and, if that's the case, you should totally not talk about them until you have.
>>7816429
I absolutely have read every novel I mentioned on here. I know this is the internet and there isn't a real way to prove it, but I have. I am glad you have read them too, most people on here haven't. Especially Stein.
I could see Lowry being a Modernist, Under the Volcano was insanely like Ulysses in my mind. I vividly remember a description of the train passing in the book that felt like Joyce himself was writing them. I'm not sure why I mentally consider him a pomo, but I always do.
As for Stein, I actually don't think she is that respected. I've worked in academia for a while and Stein is pretty neglected except for some people who hold up Tender Buttons as the ultimate intersection of Cubism and Literature. Perhaps I spoke too boldly saying to ignore her, as Gass was very clearly influenced by her in his novellas, but I love to hear your argument about her influence on the others on the list.
>>7816339
Thanks man
>>7813970
Read pic related and it fuked me up, might be what you're looking for.
Also, Hopscotch by Cortazar.
>O'Brien
>reading ethnic lit
sorry Joyce is all the "muh Ireland" i can take for one lifetime
